He arched a brow. “I hurried the doc along a bit. I bloody hate hospitals.”
“Me, too.”
He motioned toward the headstone. “I told the people at MIDNIGHT about your father. What he did. They’ll see to it that his name and reputation are cleared.”
“Thank you.”
An uncomfortable silence fell between them. Emily could feel her heart pounding. Even though she couldn’t meet his gaze, she felt his upon her, digging into her, searching for something she wasn’t certain she wanted him to see. She was torn between running to her car and driving away and throwing herself into his arms. She’d never been in love be
fore, but she knew this moment was profound. Whatever happened here today, she knew it would affect her the rest of her life.
ZACK KNEW BETTER THAN TO push a woman like Emily when she didn’t want to be pushed. But he’d been patient for a week now and she still hadn’t given him any indication as to what was going through her mind. The not knowing was killing him.
“When I woke up and you were gone, I didn’t know if you’d come back,” he said.
She met his gaze, and Zack was taken aback by her beauty, by the courage he saw in the depths of her eyes. Most of all, he was taken aback by the sheer power of his own feelings for her.
“I didn’t know if you wanted me to come back,” she said.
He stared at her, wondering how she could not know that he was crazy in love with her. “The nurses told me you didn’t leave my side for three days.”
“You saved my life, Zack. I wanted to make sure you were going to be okay.”
“Is that all?”
She blinked, then her gaze skittered away. “I don’t know what you want me to say,” she said. “We haven’t talked about…the future.”
“The future is what we make it.”
“Your base of operations is in Washington, D.C. My life is here in Idaho.”
“I suppose for two people in love that could present a problem.”
The words, so simply spoken but so chock-full of meaning, went through her like a blade. Emily gaped at him, then choked out a laugh. “It does,” she managed. “But I don’t know what comes next. That scares me.”
“Why does it scare you?”
“Because I’m in love with you.”
His jaw flexed, like steel under tremendous pressure. When she’d professed her love after he’d been shot, he’d wondered if it had just been an extreme reaction to everything they’d been through together. But now as he gazed into her loving eyes, he knew that they hadn’t just been words to see him through his medical ordeal. They had come straight from her heart.
He crossed to her in two resolute strides. Her eyes widened an instant before his fingers wrapped around her arms. Then he was pulling her to him. His hands tangled in her hair. He breathed in her scent, let the sweetness of it fill his lungs. He caught a glimpse of her startled expression, but he couldn’t wait any longer and crushed his mouth to hers.
The kiss was long and slow and languid. The way he wanted all their kisses to be. Now and forever. “I love you, Emily Monroe,” he whispered.
Putting his hand gently beneath her chin, he forced her gaze to his. “I’ve never loved anyone the way I love you. I’m not going to give that up without a fight, so if you have any ideas about ditching me, we had better have it out right here and now.”
“But your job with the agency—”
“Is such that I can live in any city I please as long as there’s a decent airport.” He grinned. “I think the airports in Boise will suffice just fine.”
She blinked rapidly but not before Zack saw the tears building. “I hope those are tears of happiness,” he said.
She laughed. “They are.”
“Good, because I’m not finished.” Using his thumbs, he brushed the tears from her cheeks. “While we’re on the subject of us, I thought I’d go ahead and ask you to marry me.”
“You really know how to keep a girl on her toes, don’t you?”
“Wouldn’t want you to get bored with me.”
“Not a chance, Zack Devlin.”
“Is that a yes?” he asked.
“That’s a resounding yes.”
Feeling his emotions rising powerfully to the surface, Zack laid his forehead against hers and closed his eyes. “You just made me the happiest man in the world,” he said.
“I’m just getting warmed up,” she whispered and raised her mouth to his.
ISBN: 978-1-4592-2856-6
OPERATION: MIDNIGHT TANGO
Copyright © 2005 by Linda Castillo
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All characters in this book have no existence outside the imagination of the author and have no relation whatsoever to anyone bearing the same name or names. They are not even distantly inspired by any individual known or unknown to the author, and all incidents are pure invention.
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High Country Heroes
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